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Washington, D.C. - The U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) online real estate auction this month parlayed a $2 million opening bid on a mothballed, Oakland, Calif., Naval hospital into a $22.5 million sale. With the Naval Medical Center Oakland sale, GSA's online real estate auction sales now total $43 million for 55 federal properties, sold since 1998 in Alabama, Alaska, Nebraska, Nevada, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia, along with California.

Funds generated by the sale of the hospital on174 acres at 8750 Mountain Boulevard, known as Oak Knoll, will be used to offset U.S. Navy environmental remediation costs elsewhere, as required under Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) regulations. Bidding ended July 8. The property, which Navy acquired in 1942, was awarded on July 17.

"The Oak Knoll sale is one more example of GSA's ability to help federal agencies better serve their customers and the public," said Brian Polly, GSA's Assistant Commissioner for Property Disposal. "The federal government, the city and the taxpayers win all around, what with funds generated for Navy's environmental cleanups at other sites and plans to build housing, which also will be a catalyst for economic development."

Oakland's Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, the winning bidder, plans to build 500 single-family homes, along with a sanctuary, a home for the elderly and a school on the site, which is in the park-like setting with views of downtown Oakland and San Francisco.

Navy partnered with GSA, the federal government's chief landlord, to sell Oak Knoll, after years of unsuccessful negotiations with the City of Oakland. Negotiated sales of BRAC properties must be at fair market value, which was not achieved during the exclusive negotiations with the city.

"Disposal of surplus federal property is one of our most important governmentwide responsibilities," said F. Joseph Moravec, commissioner of GSA's Public Buildings Service. "Good life-cycle asset management requires the ability to professionally execute transfers and sales for the benefit of the American taxypaying public."

GSA is a centralized federal procurement and property management agency created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public. GSA acquires space, equipment, telecommunications, information technology, supplies and services for more than 1 million federal workers, with 8,300 government-owned and leased buildings in 1,600 U.S. communities.